Michael Gove’s 5th December Statement – Potential changes to the planning system
A statement from Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, was released on the 5th December following the announcement of expected changes to the planning system in Parliament. The key contents of this statement are discussed below:
- The number for housing need should be advisory not mandatory. Consultation to take place with intentions to drop the requirement of a 20% buffer that is applied to the housing supply figure when plan and decision making. In areas where there are genuine constraints, authorities will not be expected to apply this
- For authorities with an up-to-date local plan or where authorities are benefitting from transitional arrangements, the presumption in favour of sustainable development and the ‘titled balance’ will not be applied which refers to councils unable to present a 5YHLS
- A national fee increase will be put forward to support the delivery of local plans and other planning charges
- Developers are to be held accountable for the slow delivery of homes and two further measures will be consulted on that involves allowing local authorities to refuse planning permissions from developers who have built slowly historically and ensuring local authorities are not punished for the delays in developers building on permission land
Further details on the statement can be found here
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